Sophie Louise Ingle (born 2 September 1991) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

club Chelsea and is the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Wales national team. She has previously represented Bristol Academy,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Ingle plays as either a defender or defensive midfielder. In 2020, her Chelsea goal against Arsenal was nominated for the

FIFA Puskas Award FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Club career

Ingle began her football career with boys' team Vale Wanderers. Despite making an appeal to the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

(FAW), rules prevented Ingle from playing with the boys beyond the age of 12. She spent a year away from football and then had brief spells with Vale Wanderers' girls and Dinas Powys Ladies. This preceded the teenage Ingle's move to Cardiff City Ladies. After a period in the reserves, Ingle broke into Cardiff's

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

team during season 2007–08. After winning the Welsh Cup twice with Cardiff, Ingle signed for WSL outfit

Chelsea Ladies Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

ahead of the 2012 campaign. Chelsea manager Matt Beard deployed Ingle as a central defender and praised her impact after Chelsea's

2012 FA Women's Cup Final The 2012 FA Women's Cup Final was the 42nd final of the FA Women's Cup. 276 clubs competed for the years trophy. The winners did not qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League. Birmingham City Ladies, beat Chelsea Ladies 3–2 in a penal ...

defeat to Birmingham: "Sophie Ingle, we initially brought in as a left back but you can see from her quality on the ball and distribution and reading of the game is good as well, she has created a few goals for us with balls in behind which something we haven’t had before." In February 2014, Ingle left Chelsea and moved nearer to home by joining Bristol Academy. She rose to captain The Vixens, but the club were relegated after the 2015 season. Ingle became a transfer target for other clubs and decided to join

in December 2015: "Liverpool is a massive club and once I was aware of their interest there was only one team I wanted to sign for".

International career

Ingle was called-up to represent

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at Under–17 level, and later rose to

the Under–19 squad. Ingle won her first senior cap for Wales in a 2–1 World Cup qualifying defeat to

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, played in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

on 28 October 2009. In December 2011, Ingle was named in the preliminary

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

squad for the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. She won her 50th cap for Wales in July 2014, during a 1–1

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

draw with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

. Wales manager

Jayne Ludlow Jayne Louise Ludlow (born 7 January 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is currently the technical director of Manchester City Girls' Academy. In 2018, she was inducted on to the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame Roll of Honour alo ...

named Ingle the new national team captain ahead of the

2015 Istria Cup The 2015 Istria Cup was the third edition of the Istria Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Croatia. It took place from 4–11 March 2015 at the same time as the 2015 Algarve Cup and 2015 Cyprus Cup. Venues Group st ...

, replacing

Jess Fishlock Jessica Anne Fishlock (born 14 January 1987) is a Welsh professional footballer and coach who plays as a midfielder for OL Reign and the Wales national team. She previously played for Bristol Academy in England's FA Women's Super League (FA ...

who was surprisingly dropped from the squad. On 22 September 2020, Ingle played her 100th match for Wales against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

during the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifiers. On 27 May 2021 it was announced that Ingle had been selected as the only Welsh player in the

Great Britain women's Olympic football team The Great Britain women's Olympic football team (also known as Team GB; or occasionally Great Britain and Northern Ireland) represents the United Kingdom in the women's football tournament at the Olympic Games. Normally, no team represents the ...

for the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Career statistics

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 2 August 2021.''

Honours

Ingle was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to association football.

Club

Chelsea

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

: 2019–20 *

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

: 2019–20 *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Individual

* Liverpool Women's Player of the Season: 2017 * Liverpool Women's Players' Player of the Season: 2018 *

Nominee: 2020

References

External links

Profile
at Chelsea F.C. Women * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingle, Sophie 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Welsh women's footballers Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. Women players Liverpool F.C. Women players Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Wales women's international footballers Olympic footballers of Great Britain FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players Welsh Premier Women's Football League players FIFA Century Club Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Officers of the Order of the British Empire